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Advertising Advice for Businesses

Here are two examples of advertisements to demonstrate what I think are the two most important elements of an advertisement. First take a look at these advertisements:

‘See Your Broker’

And ‘Destination Clarity’

The most important part of any advertisement is the HEADLINE. These are the words intended to grab your attention. In the first advertisement it is hard to determine the headline and nothing really ‘grabs’ you.

In the second ad, DESTINATION CLARITY is the headline.

How does it grab your attention?

Since the real purpose of an ad is to generate a response or an inquiry, and once the headline grabs you, you should then be directed with a CALL TO ACTION. In the first ad, the call to action is pretty clear ‘call your broker’.

The second ad is a little more puzzling. If DESTINATION CLARITY grabbed your attention, what do you do then? Not that you would have time to read the small print on a bill board but there is more information:

“Audit-Tax-Advisory – Clarity Defined”

All this talk about clarity, but unfortunately it isn’t clear to me!

Now that we see what not to do, here are the two things to review with your advertisements:

1) The Headline – Does it describe the need or frustration of your potential customer, for example: ‘leaky basement?’ or ‘Is your business vision fuzzy?’ or ‘Gas and food – easy on and off the freeway’.

Just look at the ads around you and see which ones grab your attention.

2) The call to action – If the headline works, why not provide your phone number or website? Shouldn’t it be easy to get in touch with your business?

I wonder how many people finally were grabbed by the headline ‘destination clarity’ and then didn’t know how to get it, as a phone number or website isn’t provided? At least with the first ad you were directed to call your broker – assuming you have one!